Keyboard Help and Diacritics (Mac)

Language Bar

The following instructions for using diacritics in Chinese, Japanese, and Russian assume that the input language option is already installed on your computer. To install any of these input languages, do the following:

  • Click the icon >> System Preferences
  • Under Personal category, click International
  • Click Input Menu tab
  • Click checkboxes next to the language(s) you want to install
    • For Chinese, select the simplified ITABC option
    • For Japanese, select the hiragana, katakana, and romaji options
    • For Russian, choose the phonetic input option
  • Click "Show input menu in menu bar"

To change the input language, click icon in the upper right-hand corner of the navigation bar and select the language needed.

Chinese

  • Change the icon to Chinese ITABC
  • Type the desired word phonetically in pinyin
  • Press the space bar >> Use the right arrow key to select the desired character >> press enter
  • Example: If you type "zhong" and select the first character option, "中" will appear in place of the entered pinyin

French

à, è, ì, ò, ù – Option and `(above the tab button), then a vowel
á, é, í, ó, ú – Option and the letter e, then a vowel
â, ê, î, ô, û – Option and the letter i, then a vowel
ä, ë, ï, ö, ü – Option and the letter u, then a vowel
ç - Option and the letter c

German

ä, ë, ï, ö, ü – Option and the letter u, then a vowel
ß – Option and the letter s

Japanese

  • Change the icon to the desired Japanese input form (hiragana, katakana, or romaji)
  • Type the desired word phonetically
  • In order to enter kanji, type the word phonetically in hiragana input mode and press the space bar >> Use the right arrow key to select the desired character >> press enter
  • Example: If you type "nihongo" without pressing the space bar, "にほんご" appears; if you press the space bar,　the kanji characters "日本語" appear

Things to keep in mind when inputting in Japanese

  • If you wish to enter the small つ, as in いって, type the first letter of the character directly following the つ twice. As in this example, after typing い, simply input t-t-e to make って.
  • Small や, ゆ, and よ are easy to enter, and can usually be done phonetically. じゃ, for example is simply ‘ja’; しょ is ‘sho’; にゅ, ‘nyu’.
  • The character を is inputted as ‘wo’.

Norwegian

å – Option and the letter a
ø – Option and the letter o
æ - Option and ' (apostrophe)

Russian

  • Change the icon to Russian phonetic input mode
  • Type the desired word phonetically using the following keyboard guide:

Spanish

á, é, í, ó, ú – Option and the letter e, then a vowel
ñ - Option and the letter n, then n again
¿ – Option, shift and ?
¡ – Option and 1